AFM imaging-force spectroscopy combination for molecular recognition at the single-cell level

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018Molecular recognition at the single-cell level is an increasingly important issue in Biomedical Sciences. With atomic force microscopy, cell surface receptors may be recognized through the interaction with their ligands, inclusively for the identification of cell-cell adhesion proteins. The spatial location of a specific interaction can be determined by adhesion force mapping, which combines topographic images with local force spectroscopy measurements. Another valuable possibility is to simultaneously record topographic and recognition images (TREC imaging) of cells, enabling the mapping of specific binding events on cells in real time. This review is focused on recent developments on these molecular recognition approaches, presenting examples of different biological and biomedical applications.This work was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT-MCTES, Portugal) projects PTDC/BBB-BMD/6307/2014 and PTDC/BBB-BQB/3494/2014.